Queen of the Underworld | Book 3

• sixty-one •

I felt the iron tighten further. "Leah," I gasped through my dizzy spell. "Hurry, he's tightening them."

Immediately, the sounds dulled and when I looked up. A protective shield appeared around us as Leah and I huddled on the floor. The pain subsided momentarily but I knew it wouldn't be enough to stop Runith from continuing his torture.

"Good, Damien put up a barrier. Hopefully he can distract him long enough," Leah told me quietly. She took my hands and placed them on an elevated stone on the ground between us. "Stay still."

I gritted my teeth as I watched Leah take a large saw and place it against the iron on my wrist. Without hesitation, she started sawing against the iron shackles.

Kymra had found the magic saw and given it to us in the case any of us were shackled with iron. It was a magic saw that would work faster than a regular human one. As long as Damien and Vyssen kept Mal and Runith distracted long enough, it could work.

"Who is he that appeared with you? Does he work with Mal?" Leah asked between hard breaths. Sweat was beginning to form around her brow.

"A demon," I answered biting back the bile that threatened to rise. "He's behind all of this, he's the one that started it all."

She let out a long shuddering breath. The sound of metal on metal made me grind my teeth. "Gods, this is so crazy."

Leah pushed forward placing all her strength behind the magic saw. I watched the blue metal glint in the small light of the cave as it moved back and forth against the iron on my skin.

Gods, there were two of them she had to get through, not just the one wrist...

She screamed in frustration as it slipped in her hands and grazed the skin on my hand.

I bit back a painful moan as it felt the saw nick a part of my skin.

Leah picked up the saw again and began to grind against the cuffs again. She huffed with exertion. "That freak stole Damien's father's face." Her lip curled in disgust. "Creep."

I swallowed as I watched Damien and Runith fight. Runith was using Damien's father's appearance against him? I had seen his father before when I was a child and barely remembered his features.

Runith and Damien both fought with effort. They both rebounded the other's attacks or pushed their own power against the other. Their fight was fast, moving quickly against the harsh shadows cast from the torches in the cave. Damien and two of the hounds fought fiercely against the demon, using brute force and power to defeat the demon's attacks.

A monstrous squeal echoed through the cavern distracted me.

One of the hounds crashed against one of the large walls making it howl and scream out in pain. The deafening wail reverberated through my chest and drilled down on my senses.

Leah gasped in triumph just as I felt the shackle on my left wrist give and break apart.

I breathed a sigh of relief as the pressure I had just been feeling disappeared and a cool refreshing breeze replaced it.

"Gods," Leah's tone was slightly disgusted. I saw her swallow and look away from my wrist quickly. "He really is tightening them on you."

I looked away as soon as I saw my exposed left wrist. Muscle and sinew was exposed, my skin had melted away and though I was fae and I knew I would heal, it wasn't doing it very fast.

She wiped her brow with the back of her arm and started on the next wrist.

Damien let out a growl of frustration making me turn towards him. I tried to gather any power I could with my free hand but couldn't. I was powerless as long as I had iron in my skin.